Topic ID 3049
....are coming to Hertford. They will be called Books@Hertford and are apparently going to a property in Railway Street. They are looking for "enthusiastic" staff! Let's hope people use it!
Reply ID 43998
Will this be a shop or purely online I wonder?? Or all remainder? Hope it'll be a good wide ranging bookshop & if so, as Claudia says, we give it good support.
Reply ID 43999
The only empty unit I can think of in Railway Street is the one that used to be Sheba http://www.booksat.com/
Reply ID 44002
quote:That link looks very, very, hopeful... Good news
Originally posted by Steve
The only empty unit I can think of in Railway Street is the one that used to be Sheba http://www.booksat.com/
Reply ID 44005
If this is Alan Jeffrey who runs the bookshop in Hoddesdon and has regular 'meet the author' events at Castle Hall then this will be a great asset for Hertford. When Methvens closed he was looking for suitable premises in Hertford; I can always remember some form of a bookshop in Hertford so a welcome gap filled.
Reply ID 44008
Looks great - especially with Crimble creaping up on us. I'm sure it will be a success.
Reply ID 44115
Books@Hoddesdon is a great shop which we use often, so I very much look forward to having its equivalent in town. [;)]
Reply ID 44514
I see that work is underway to fit the shop out. Does anyone know when they hope to open?
Reply ID 44517
quote:Mind has gone blank, what shops are next to this unit?
Originally posted by Steve
The only empty unit I can think of in Railway Street is the one that used to be Sheba http://www.booksat.com/
Reply ID 44519
quote:Tickled Pink and Blue and Starfish I think?
Originally posted by shaunquote:Mind has gone blank, what shops are next to this unit?
Originally posted by Steve
The only empty unit I can think of in Railway Street is the one that used to be Sheba http://www.booksat.com/
Reply ID 44927
I had a quick chat with the Gentleman opening the shop the other day. Really positive to see a bloke with ideas opening a bookshop rather than closing one. Let's make a point of using a service when we have it, I say! He hopes, all going well to be open later in October. Shopfitting is coming on a treat by the looks of it.
Reply ID 44937
I have heard lots of good things about this place, if it is all true I will certainly use them. Xmas shopping here I come [;)]
Reply ID 45396
Should be opening mid-end next week, BT permitting!!! Internet problems I understand. Looking forward to it.
Reply ID 45526
The book shop is open now. Let's hope it gets well used and that people boycott WH Smiths now there is a'real' bookstore in town.
Reply ID 45527
Yes, opened yesterday, ordered a couple of books, got them today. Graet service and seem very knowledgeble. Let's give WHSmith a run for their money and support the independant retailers.
Reply ID 45528
Good to see a book shop back in town! Will have to go in next week.
Reply ID 45530
quote:Why boycott W H Smiths? Does the new bookshop also sell newspapers, stationery, pc consumables, CD's, DVD's, sweets, magazines, lottery tickets etc etc? They are two very different types of shop, let's not lose sight of that.
Originally posted by amber
The book shop is open now. Let's hope it gets well used and that people boycott WH Smiths now there is a'real' bookstore in town.
Reply ID 45531
brave move to open a book shop considering how good Amazon is. knowledge counts for a lot when making a purchase of anything not just books but I would always browse in a book shop then buy on line and be happy to wait a couple of days or so for delivery and also save some money on the purchase too.
Reply ID 45532
Sorry to be negative but the shop is too small and the stock too limited. I wish them the best of luck but in a competitive market they have to offer something better than the competition.
Reply ID 45533
They seem to work in Hoddesdon so why not Hertford?
Reply ID 45534
quote:Shop in Hoddy is bigger I think plus no WHS two minutes away.
Originally posted by Tigger
They seem to work in Hoddesdon so why not Hertford?
Reply ID 45535
Is the one in Hertford that small? It seems to go back quite a long way when I glanced in there earlier in the week. There must have been a big unseen back area in the days when it was a butchers.
Reply ID 45536
quote:Well... let's try and say something positive shall we? Or at least try to? It seems to me that nearly every independent retailer that opens in Hertford keeps on receiving the pre-opening chorus of 'ooooh, lovely! Great to have one of those! Let's hope they do well' followed by the chorus of 'tiny*/not much choice is there/I'll not bother with them and go elsewhere (either by town, larger chain shop or internet) where I can get it cheaper/have more choice'. *Most of Hertford is made from small listed buildings, tiny by nature and discussed at length on other ancient threads. And as I keep on telling Mrs P: size isn't everything! Maybe people should address their own preconceptions of what makes a shop a good shop, to recognise what level they have been trained by the huge chains to expect everything on tap and at low prices. And then this will be followed by a combination of gasps of dismay or additional negative remarks when a place closes because the shop wasn't supported enough to glean enough to pay the bills. I'm going in there, I'm ordering books they may not have in stock - all across the year instead of just for the traditional Christmas insanity where independents seem to be more greatly supported than at any other time across the year - and I will support them. Use them or lose them, people!
Originally posted by Steve
Sorry to be negative but the shop is too small and the stock too limited. I wish them the best of luck but in a competitive market they have to offer something better than the competition.
Reply ID 45537
The Hertford shop is quite small but I still found plenty in there today that I wanted to buy. Bought one book, ordered another. Will definitely return. Good luck to them.
Reply ID 45538
If you can get the same item cheaper elsewhere, be it tesco or internet where you going to go? the shop has a 2yr lease (when I spoke to the agent) where is the sense in moving a business in there (unless of course they neg longer). I wasn't one to blow smoke up this idea. my view is that with the internet a cheaper place to buy books then that's the way forward.
Reply ID 45540
quote:For me, book shopping is an interactive not an internet, experience. I tend to buy my books after a long browse along the shelves, reading the back cover, picking up the book next to it, putting it down because my favourite author has a new book out, seeing a three for two offer, being intrigued at a book I have not heard of, by an author I've never heard of that was short listed for the Booker Prize in 2004. It's much better than logging on to amazon. I won't pretend I was a frequent or regular visitor to methvens but I loved it and whenever I went, I usually walked out with five or six books in a bag. I'm delighted there's a new independent in the town and hope to be able to support them.
Originally posted by teddylad
If you can get the same item cheaper elsewhere, be it tesco or internet where you going to go? the shop has a 2yr lease (when I spoke to the agent) where is the sense in moving a business in there (unless of course they neg longer). I wasn't one to blow smoke up this idea. my view is that with the internet a cheaper place to buy books then that's the way forward.
Reply ID 45541
With W H Smith you can search their (much bigger) online site for books, etc and get them physically delivered to the Hertford shop for pick up. This saves the saga of deliveries to your home address when you are out (if you not allowed or don't want them delivered to your work address).
Reply ID 45542
When shopping for clothes you have many options, two of which would be to go to enormous clothing stores (Selfridges, TK Maxx) or to go to smaller clothes shops. Obviously the smaller clothes shops stock a smaller range than the behemoths. They may even be more expensive. Yet they both exist. It is the same with Books @Hertford. They don't have to have a billion books on the shelves for me to peruse.
Reply ID 45543
To survive against the efficiency of giants like Amazon Books@Hertford will have to offer something the giants can't. How much do we really value personal service when we know what we want, where we can almost certainly get it, where we can spend nano seconds actually purchasing it, where we can can purchase it at anytime of day or night, and when we want it as quickly as possible? The romantic idea of browsing a small bookshop appeals to me but in reality I don't often have the time. I also don't buy many books in a year (I use the library). So, whilst I welcome this shop and hope it does well because it will look nice and make the town feel a little more upmarket, if they want enough of my money to make a significant difference they will have to come up with a Unique Selling Point. This, I imagine, is difficult for a bookshop and is probably why there aren't so many independent ones left.
Reply ID 45548
Its personal service, integration into the local community and knowledge of the local customers needs that will help, things it would seem have kept the place going well enough in Hodds to branch out into Hertford.If I had the choice between buying books from an indi or a multinational I'll go for the indy everytime.Why ?Becuase not many indies will have to fall in line with the hoi polloi and will (if its worth its standing) hold more obscure choices.Its good not to drink from the mainstream all the time.
Reply ID 45556
quote:
Originally posted by warren_peace
Its personal service, integration into the local community and knowledge of the local customers needs that will help, things it would seem have kept the place going well enough in Hodds to branch out into Hertford.If I had the choice between buying books from an indi or a multinational I'll go for the indy everytime.Why ?Becuase not many indies will have to fall in line with the hoi polloi and will (if its worth its standing) hold more obscure choices.Its good not to drink from the mainstream all the time. 4 so far!!! Better check the bank balance! I'm not suggesting I would never buy from the Internet, if I know it is exactlly what I want but to actually go and look, choose is a great experience. And if we want to keep this Town alive we need to support the Town because of everything it has to offer. A relaxing afternoon, browsing the 'different' shops, having a good meal and drink.
Reply ID 45559
quote:I'd been thinking about how to articulate my views on this all afternoon (whilst watching HRFU getting badly beat in fact). All those negative posts....[:(] Thanks to Mr P for doing it far better than I could...[:)]
Originally posted by Mr Pquote:Well... let's try and say something positive shall we? Or at least try to? It seems to me that nearly every independent retailer that opens in Hertford keeps on receiving the pre-opening chorus of 'ooooh, lovely! Great to have one of those! Let's hope they do well' followed by the chorus of 'tiny*/not much choice is there/I'll not bother with them and go elsewhere (either by town, larger chain shop or internet) where I can get it cheaper/have more choice'. *Most of Hertford is made from small listed buildings, tiny by nature and discussed at length on other ancient threads. And as I keep on telling Mrs P: size isn't everything! Maybe people should address their own preconceptions of what makes a shop a good shop, to recognise what level they have been trained by the huge chains to expect everything on tap and at low prices. And then this will be followed by a combination of gasps of dismay or additional negative remarks when a place closes because the shop wasn't supported enough to glean enough to pay the bills. I'm going in there, I'm ordering books they may not have in stock - all across the year instead of just for the traditional Christmas insanity where independents seem to be more greatly supported than at any other time across the year - and I will support them. Use them or lose them, people!
Originally posted by Steve
Sorry to be negative but the shop is too small and the stock too limited. I wish them the best of luck but in a competitive market they have to offer something better than the competition.
Reply ID 45568
I went in there on Saturday and I think it adds something good to the town. They made good use of the space and have not ruined the outside with bright signs as some of the chain stores can do.
Reply ID 46760
Books @ Hertford are hosting a local book launch on Friday (7 Dec) at 7PM and everyone is welcome to attend to hear some readings and enjoy a glass of wine. It's Hertford Writers' Circle's collection, they publish an anthology of their short stories and other bits every couple of years, with a foreword by Freddy Forsyth, no less. (BTW I am nothing to do with the Writers' Circle or the shop)